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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Pet Phrases/Pet Words/Pet Actions

Pet Phrases/Pet Words/Pet Actions

Authors have a tendency to develop pet phrases and/or pet
words. With pet words the author is
usually able to space the word out so it’s not as noticeable. Other authors seem incapable of this, so the
readers will pick up on it. If I start
to notice a pet word, readers will probably notice it as well. One author had a love affair with the word crystalline. A person’s eyes were crystalline, the air had
a crystalline quality, another person’s voice was crystalline. Another author was fond of “just then”, which
is really bad because both just and then are on the list of unnecessary
words you want to cut whenever possible.
I’ve also seen authors who were infatuated with “in the nick of time”,
“quick as a cat”, and “lightning quick” or “lightning fast”. In a few manuscripts a ball of ice was always
forming in the pit of some character’s stomach.
It’s easy to fall into this trap because sometimes that’s the perfect
word or phrase for what you’re trying to convey, but you have to make yourself
aware of it. And yes, quite a few of the
pet phrases have also been clichés. If
the pet word or phrase is used for effect, it can work. (Like Gollum saying, “My precious” or
“precious” in LOTR. Oh, haven’t I told you? Yes, I can be a geek. Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly…Oh, my!) You just have to be careful. You don’t want to turn it into the word or
phrase that gets made fun of because you overused it for effect.

Then you have what I call pet actions. These are more along the lines of
repetition. You have characters who are
constantly shrugging, pursing their lips, sighing, crossing their legs and/or
arms. Other characters are constantly
glowering, smirking, glaring, huffing out a breath, or sucking in a
breath. It’s different than an
affectation the character has as a habit.
I have a habit of playing with my hair, and when I sit, I often have to
cross my legs or curl them under me because I’m short. But I’m not always rolling my eyes…yeah, not always.
Frequently isn’t always. *grin* Your characters can play with their hair,
bite their nails, pick at their cuticles, etc., if you establish it as a habit. But when a lot of your characters are always
doing these things that aren’t habits, there’s a problem. Yep, been guilty of it and been called out on
it. My beta pointed out that both
characters in a particular scene sure were shrugging a lot. *headdesk*
While you don’t want whole chunks of dialogue with no movements at all,
you also don’t want to overdo it. And
you do not want a lot of: